Nevertheless, she
kept to her custom, for not only did the formality help her to
retain her own self-respect, but it had its influence upon the
servants. Without companionship one needs to be ever upon guard to
retain the nice refinements of gentle breeding, and any one who
has exercised authority in savage countries soon learns the
importance of leaving unbridged the gulf of color and of class.
But Alaire looked forward to no lonely dinner to-night, for Ed was
at home. It was with a grave preoccupation that she made herself
ready to meet him.
Dolores bustled in for a second time and straightway launched
herself into a tirade against Juan, the horse-boy.
"Devil take me if there was ever such a shameless fellow," she
cried, angrily. "He delights in tormenting me, and--Dios!--he is
lazier than a snake. Work? Bah! He abhors it. All day long he
snaps his revolver and pretends to be a bandido, and when he is
not risking bell's fire in that way he is whirling his riata and
jumping through it. Useless capers! He ropes the dog, he ropes the
rose-bushes, he ropes fat Victoria, the cook, carrying a huge bowl
of hot water to scald the ants' nest.
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